While Art's History celebrated an anniversary important to the Vincent Massey, the nation's first Canadian Governor General, it seemed appropriate to pay tribute to Massey two-days in a row. It is worthy of noting that one of the most successful partnerships in Canadian political and diplomatic history began on this date in 1915 when Vincent married Alice Parkin. Massey became Canada’s first-ever Ambassador to the United States in 1927 and later served eleven years as Canada’s High Commissioner to the UK during the crucial lead-up to the Second World right through to the end of the conflict. Alice Massey was a crucial part of her husband’s success in his diplomatic and political roles. Sadly, she passed into history in 1950, two years before Vincent became Governor General of Canada.
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.